Transportinfo.org.uk - today's transport news in the uk, hand picked for you each morning

Thursday, 05 November 2020

BBC News

• Thai Airways: Holy flights, dough fritters and home-made bagsThai Airways is getting very creative as it looks to raise cash during the Covid-19 travel downturn.

Financial Times

• Volvo to sell first fully-electric heavy-duty truck Swedish company aims to show battery power possible for biggest commercial vehicles
• Uber and Lyft shares soar after California ballot victoryVoters back plan to let car-booking companies keep treating drivers as contractors rather than employees

The Guardian

• Tory London mayoral candidate criticised over TfL bailout 'facts' siteShaun Bailey’s team accused of ‘trying to take Londoners for fools’ as site’s source is not made clear The London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has been criticised after his team launched a “facts” website about the bailout for Transport for London that makes minimal references to its creation by the Conservative party.
• We’re going to the skies and stars!’ The man building our jetpack future – in tribute to his DadRichard Browning is pursuing the stuff of a million childhood dreams. But having built a working jetpack, will anybody use it?
• China bans non-Chinese arrivals from UK as England enters lockdownPeople from Belgium and Philippines are also barred in ‘temporary measure taken in response to the pandemic’

The Scotsman

• 'Not all engineers wear hard hats' - ScotRail drive to attract more women and ethnic minoritiesIncreasing the number of female and ethnic minority engineers in one of the most male-dominated industries was today made a priority by ScotRail.

City AM

• Wizz Air swings to hefty loss as airline pain goes onWizz Air this morning swung to a €243.1m (£219m) loss for the first six months of the year as the The post Wizz Air swings to hefty loss as airline pain goes on appeared first on CityAM.

Mail Online

• Coronavirus London: Traffic queues of 1,200 MILES before lockdownAccording to congestion data published by satnav provider TomTom, there were 1,200 miles of queues across London's roads at 6pm with a whopping 2,624 traffic jams recorded.

Birmingham Post

• Rolls-Royce looking at robots which travel inside jet enginesDerby programme looking at increasing the time engines can fly, avoiding unnecessary maintenance and recycling more parts
• Blast-off for space engineering apprentices in 2021Space sector could create 30,000 jobs in the UK over the next decade alone

Bradford Telegraph & Argus

• Improvements to Keighley's Hard Ings Road road are welcomed in town MAJOR improvements to one of Keighley’s busiest roads have been welcomed.

Bristol Live

• Bristol mayor admits new cycle lane 'messed up' major city bus route past PrimarkMarvin Rees said the council would be changing the scheme on Lewins Mead

Edinburgh Evening News

• Ambitious plans to transform travel across East LothianEVERY East Lothian resident will live within walking distance of new public transport hubs under ambitious new plans to transform the way people travel in the county.

London Evening Standard

• Airport owner calls for Covid tests to revive travel industry after lockdownPASSENGER testing will be the key to reviving the travel industry once the UK’s latest holiday flight ban has been lifted, the boss of Southend Airport’s owners Stobart Group said today.
• Doctors and nurses urge Sadiq Khan to press ahead with road safety changes More than 120 doctors and nurses have written to Mayor Sadiq Khan to urge him to press ahead with road changes that make it safer for Londoners to walk or cycle.

Manchester Evening News

• Bus firm threatens to cut north Manchester service over vandalism"Unless we can work with the community to put a stop to these dangerous acts of vandalism we will have no choice but to remove the service from serving the Langley area."

Newcastle Evening Chronicle

• Calls to bring back Tynemouth to Whitley Bay cycle laneThe seafront cycleway was dismantled earlier this week, having been set up by North Tyneside Council this summer to allow walkers and cyclists more space for safe social distancing

Sheffield Star

• Sheffield transport set to be transformed after £50 million investment in travel plansThe future of travel in Sheffield looks set to take off as the council has successfully secured £50 million funding to improve the connectivity in and around the city.

Other Regional Press

• Heathrow Express launches improved third-party ticketing platformThe technology enables third-party distributors to easily include Heathrow Express tickets within their booking platforms, provding an extra revenue stream for airline and travel industry partners and a seamless booking experience for customers.
• Watford's Mick Cash retires as general secretary of RMT UnionThe leader of the biggest rail workers’ union has announced his retirement, blaming a “campaign of harassmentâ€� against him by factional groups within the union.
• Transport for London bailout in 'sharp contrast' to train operating companies The Department for Transport loves playing trains and is on a half promise to enlarge its train set to include tube trains and buses, possibly by Xmas. That’s the essence of a threat by the administration to take over Transport for London from the Mayor of London as a condition of a bailout of TfL.

Train Operators

• Greater Anglia parent, Abellio UK, recognised as Top 100 apprenticeship providerGreater Anglia is among a group of transport providers recognised for developing the skills of its workforce.

Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

• Construction milestone for M56 upgradeThe four-mile section of motorway between junction 6 at Hale and junction 8 at Bowdon is one of the busiest in the North West – carrying 100,000 vehicles a day as part of the important corridor between Manchester and Manchester Airport and the Midlands. As part of the project, an extra running lane will be added to both the westbound and eastbound carriageways to tackle congestion and provide more reliable journeys for city centre commuters and businesses as well as tourists and workers using the airport. Technology will also be installed to manage vehicles through the upgraded motorway...
• Boeing to cut 20% of workforce by end of 2021Boeing is to cut another 7,000 jobs as its losses mount in the pandemic. The US planemaker, which had already announced deep cuts, said its staff would be down to just 130,000 by the end of next year - 20% down on the 160,000 it employed before the crisis. The coronavirus pandemic and safety concerns about its 737 Max jet have contributed to a slump in orders. The firm posted a loss of $466m (£354m) for the three months to 30 September, its fourth straight quarterly decline. However, it reaffirmed its expectation that US deliveries of the 737 Max would resume before the end of the ye...
• Climate change space project awarded to Airbus UKAirbus has been awarded a contract to prepare a mission to collect the most accurate measurements of energy coming into the Earth from the Sun, and light reflected off Earth’s surface, to help understand changes in balance (global warming) and mankind’s impact on the planet. The mission will not only make measurements itself, but also improve the performance of other missions through calibration from space, becoming a new ‘gold standard’ reference for climate measurements. The contract is backed by the UK Government and awarded as part of the European Space Agency&rsqu...
• Edinburgh trial for light commercial vehicle wireless charging infrastructureA consortium in Edinburgh is to trial a wireless charging network for light commercial vehicles, following the award of £1.6 million in research funding from the Office for Low-Emission Vehicles (delivered through Innovate UK). Comprising of Heriot-Watt University, Flexible Power Systems (FPS), and City of Edinburgh Council the trial – which starts in the Spring of 2021 – will explore how shared charging hubs can increase commercial fleet electrification across the UK. The wireless charging hubs, supplied by Momentum Dynamics, will be installed at Heriot Watt University&rsq...
• Bristol Airport announces plans for substantial improvement in public transport & customer experienceThe PTI will deliver substantial improvements for passengers and staff who utilise public transport with increased capacity and new facilities, enhancing their experience at the point they interchange at the airport site. The submission to North Somerset Council, also includes associated development. All of the proposed development is located in the northern part of the airport site, to the west and north of the main terminal building. The development site lies wholly within the operational area of the airport. Specific improvements include: • A covered walkway from the PTI to the termi...
• Network Rail sets world-first targets to combat global warmingNetwork Rail has announced a major step forward in tackling climate change by becoming the first railway company in the world to set the most ambitious Science-Based Targets to limit global warming. The targets – and the plans to achieve them – have been independently verified, meaning the company will be the first railway to commit to cutting emissions which limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius – below the 2 degrees scientists declared necessary to meet the Paris Agreement. Chief executive Andrew Haines said: “Rail is already the cleanest and greenest mode of tr...

New Civil Engineer

• Rail industry boss calls for HS2, East West Rail and Crossrail 2 to be sped upThe chief executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA) Darren Caplan has called for major schemes to be "sped up" such as HS2 Phase 2, the next phase of East West Rail and the proposed Crossrail 2 line in London. Caplan said that schemes needed to be accelerated to help end the current “boom and bust” pipeline of work within the industry.
• Court challenge won’t impact Highways England future road building plansThe legal challenge against the government’s RIS2 road building plan won’t impact future schemes, according to Highways England Future RIS & Government director Adam Simmons.
• HS2 | DfT slams review deputy’s £170bn cost estimate as ‘baseless’ and ‘false’The Department for Transport (DfT) has dismissed claims that HS2’s cost could rise to £170bn as “baseless” and “false”, sticking by its own revised budget of £98bn set following the Oakervee review.

Railnews

• Piling starts at £40m North London station The first piles have been installed at the site of the future Brent Cross West station on the Midland Main Line in north London. The main works are due to be completed in 2022.
• RMT™s Mick Cash to retire, blaming ˜harassment™ The general secretary of Britain™s largest rail union is stepping down. Mick Cash announced his decision after the RMT™s Annual General Meeting, saying that certain groups had ˜seized every opportunity to undermine and frustrate my efforts™. Mr Cash had been on extended sick leave after suffering stress, and had only returned to work recently. Reports claim that there had been several clashes between Mr Cash and the union™s National Executive in recent times.
• Train services set to keep going during English lockdown Train operators are preparing for the four-week English lockdown which starts at midnight tonight and many intend to maintain their present timetables, in spite of the renewed ˜essential travel only™ rule.

Other News Sources

• Thermal imaging systems help site safety at Network RailNetwork Rail is using thermal imaging systems from Thales to help protect staff against COVID-19 at over 108 sites.
• What lessons have been learned from e-scooter trials?Steve Pyer, UK Country Manager at Spin, reveals what the future of micromobility might look like after an e-scooter trial in Milton Keynes.
• Gatwick finance chief set to leave airportGatwick Airport’s finance chief is set to leave after a decade at the company.
• For Corby railway station adopters keeping platform in first class order is just the ticketVolunteers Donald Oliver and Matt Clipston will be officially taking care of Corby station
• Rail electronics specialist acquired by Unipart GroupA Harrogate-based company that designs and manufactures electronic products primarily for the rail industry has been acquired by Unipart Group.
• Gatwick and Heathrow: How travel restrictions impact both during lockdown 2 Foreign holidays are essentially banned under new government rules

News from Europe

• EU approves Dutch bail-out for public transport operatorsThe European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a Dutch scheme of around €1.5 billion to compensate companies providing regional and long-distance public passenger transport services in the Netherlands for the damage suffered due to the coronavirus outbreak and the emergency containment measures introduced in the Netherlands to limit the spread of the virus.